Republican Party of Louisiana

The Republican Party of Louisiana (LAGOP) was the conservative US Republican Party's franchise in the state of Louisiana in the American South. The LAGOP was founded on 4 November 1865 by a group of whites, free African-Americans, and newly-emancipated slaves under Benjamin Flanders, and the party was originally liberal. It would not be until 1956 that a Republican presidential nominee would gain an electoral vote in Louisiana, Dwight D. Eisenhower, a World War II hero. After the Civil Rights Act of 1864 and the collapse of the US Democratic Party's "Solid South", most racist southern workers switched their vote to the Republican Party, which was becoming more conservative and concerned with "states rights". In 2016, the LAGOP had both senate seats, 6/7 US House of Representatives seats, 6/7 executive office seats, 25/39 State Senate seats, and 58/105 State House of Representatives seats.